Is there such a thing as unintentional ironical parody? I mean, when Miley Cyrus was doing her white ghetto girl thing on stage, I experienced THAT like it was some sort of idiot parody of twerking, although to me twerking itself seems like a parody of something else, older perhaps but now reduced to YouTube stunts and Hipstamatic hijinx. This young woman in the video is obviously self-aware and trying to amuse, but her technical proficiency suggests that there’s nothing particularly parodic about what she’s doing–it’s more like she’s showing off and using the mundane backdrop and the scenery to emphasize and heighten the arousal factor. You know, like the million+ other web sites that feature ordinary people doing, um, extraordinary things in public. Something’s going on here, but if it’s parody, it’s probably a some kind of happy coincidence.

You have to be bad at the thing you’re parodying in order for it to be parody?

No, that’s a good point. Maybe what I was trying to suggest was that this particular video seems more like one of those “planking” stunts, although you don’t need to be especially good at planking to have spectacular success doing it. I don’t know–maybe the whole twerking thing is just too topical and because I’m a known geezer and curmudgeon I’m better off commenting on things that are relevant to my experience, like cramming kids into phone booths and streaking through sporting events.

I used to come to Boing Boing comments to find witty exchanges from like minded people, but I swear, these days it is just a bunch of pretentious twats carrying on about “I don’t know if this is suitable for Boing Boing,” or “This is beneath Boing Boing,” or “How dare you post this trivial thing that insults my high mindedness.” For fuck sake, you are all annoying as hell. Boing Boing is an eclectic mix of weirdness. I don’t give a toss about the crochet creations that are always popping up on here, but I recognize it is part of the flavour of the place. The post bashing that goes on in the comments anymore makes me think you people have either come over from Reddit, where the herd is being controlled by the morality police, or you have migrated from Guardian where the comments are filled with the resentful thoughts of middle aged failures. Not every post has to be lofty. Now stfu.

The post bashing that goes on in the comments anymore makes me think you people have either come over from Reddit, where the herd is being controlled by the morality police,

Reddit…morality police?

You, my friend, need to share with us what subreddits you’re subscribed to, because people on here tend to rail on about Reddit being a misogynist shithole.

I mean, I like Reddit as is, but…you have an interesting view of this website and Reddit, compared to what I see here.

Personally, I thought it was a little funny, after so many taking-the-sanctimonious-racial-and-moral-high-ground posts on the subject, to see Xeni post a video of a WOC twerking for us to all point and laugh at was a little bizarre…but I kept it to myself until you decided to vent.

I was thinking something along the lines of “what if John Harvey Kellogg saw this, would his head explode? If so would it emit a shower of Corn Flakes? Does this video make anyone else think they are missing out on the fun by not shopping at Wal-Mart? For Corn Flakes?”

I dunno - I see it more as an exhibition thing. There are a lot of people who get off flashing naughty bits in public and taking pics or having sex in public places. I guess you can’t really know if she is doing it to be funny, or if she is doing it for sexy thrills.

I imagine Prof. R. Soplaski is not at all surprised at public Twerking. His book ‘A Primate’s Memoir’s’ details how female baboon rear-ends convey crucial information to the male baboons. Twerking is much the same, it says “I’M RANDY BABY, YEAH!” release the dopamine.

I think it is really funny! She’s clearly got a great sense of humor and a nice sense of ironic juxtaposition.

Also, comparing women, especially black women, to baboons has a long and racist history and is best avoided. Dance moves are not the same as animal instincts, they come from cultures and traditions and histories. This was reposted by me and many others a few days ago, but it looks like it needs wider reading.